Angela’s gone, but Bobby made us sob uncontrollably – Vanessa Feltz on Strictly

Strictly: Bobby performs couple’s choice in tribute to mum

Strictly is running away with us. Next week all hail the Quarter Final. So it’s high time I let you in on the tears and tantrums erupting weekly in the sequin-sprinkled Strictly wardrobe.

Ruled by award winning designer Vicky Gill wardrobe is the show’s throbbing heart.

It provides sanctuary for the love-lorn. Sobs are frequently heard emanating from the puffs of tulle and embroidered chiffon. If you need an urgent catch up on crucial gossip – especially romantic entanglements, unrequited adoration and who wanted to do what to whom during the compulsory weekly spray tan – pretend there’s a problem with your hem and simply hang out in Vicky’s colourful fiefdom.

I was astounded to witness more than a few female celebrities and dancers whose names I wouldn’t dare to divulge bearing down on Vicky and her trusty assistants demanding their costumes be cut to shreds.

“I want shorter – much shorter. Take off the feather trim. Get those bugle beads off my cleavage. I need to show more flesh,” yelled one butter wouldn’t melt in public household name.

READ MORE: Bobby Brazier shares emotional thing he’d tell Jade Goody if he saw her again

Vicky, despite her affable personality, calls the costume shots. She’s unflappable under immense pressure. No diva demands, no matter the threats and foot-stamping, make a dent in her iron-clad designs.

Contestants quickly learn that the right costume can make or break a routine. Women want floaty, romantic, ethereal or sexy as hell, anything matronly or with a comedy flavour is the kiss of death.

When back in my 2013 series the beautiful graceful Rachel Riley appeared in an unflattering colour block trouser suit we feared she was heading for the exit. We were right!

If you focussed on the costumes alone on Saturday night you’d have had a pretty good inkling Layton and Nikita and Angela and Carlos were heading for the dance off.

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Layton was in a hot pink creation neither fish nor fowl. It wasn’t full drag but wasn’t quite a chap’s outfit either. It didn’t do much for his incredible physique and frankly Nikita’s grass green pussy-bow blouse didn’t do him any favours either.

Angela was tricked out like Donna Summer the morning after the night before and the hair department stuck a gigantic ginger syrup on her bonce for extra pastiche factor.

Over Carlos’s ludicrous purple sequinned boob tube let us draw a veil.

Compare the dance off couples’ attire with Annabel’s gorgeous flamenco flounces or Katya’s saucy half lingerie half crumpled bedsheet swirl and you see what I mean.

When wardrobe is with you, you’re destined for survival. When you’re all done up like a dog’s dinner it could well be curtains.

Angela must have known the bell had tolled. The judges looked stern and tutted. No matter she began her career as a professional hoofer in the cast of River Dance, they never quite fell under Angela’s spell. They’d concede she had ‘lovely soft knees’ but manage to look wistful, as if she’d wilfully withheld a key ingredient.

Obviously Layton wasn’t going anywhere. Whether he lifts the glitter ball or not, he’s the best dancer in the room bar a handful of professionals. Shirley said for form’s sake she’d have saved Angela but only after Layton’s place was firmly anchored.

It’s a shame for Angela who must have been fairly certain of having a good crack at the final.

Bobby and Dianne’s tribute to his late mother Jade Goody had us sobbing uncontrollably. I knew Jade and she’d have been beside herself with pride in her supremely talented and sweet-tempered son.

Ellie and Vito were shown snuggling with her parents on the sofa. The unspoken message: we are in love and the palpable chemistry is on screen for the audience to revel in.

Who will make it through next week and into the quarter final? I think Nigel and Annabel must fear the writing’s scrawled all over the wall.

I hope Annabel isn’t next for the chop. She’s the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. She is finding joy after all-enveloping sorrow and we are privileged to share her voyage towards serenity.

Judges please take heed. We don’t want Annabel’s life-affirming Strictly odyssey to end too soon.

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